Page 79 of The Alien's Vicious Starflash Manor

My magic flares again, responding to my turbulent emotions. When I try to pull it back, to contain it within myself, nothing happens.

The ice continues to spread, beautiful and terrible and completely beyond my control.

Like everything else in my life.

Like what I feel for Lara.

Vazor and Uanna will come—they’ll have to come. And somehow, we’ll have to prepare the Evans sisters for what’s coming.

Even though nothing can truly prepare them for their fate.

Behind me, the maze gleams in the winter sunlight, its beauty a reminder of everything that lies ahead. A reminder that some paths, once chosen, can never be undone.

And I chose mine the moment I bought Lara Evans in the Trasqo Market.

I turn away from the maze, frost trailing in my wake as I head back toward the manor, marking my passage like tears, frozen in that time we do not have.

Six more days until we go to court.

Until the beginning of the moment I lose her forever.

CHAPTER 21

LARA

My hands won’t stop shaking as Lucilline helps me into the new dress the next day.

The silk whispers against my skin, cool and delicate, but all I can think about is how Ivrael’s fingers traced those same paths last night. How I melted under his touch, surrendered to his will.

“Hold still!” Kila buzzes around my head, her tiny wings whirring in irritation. “Your fidgeting is making it impossible for Lucilline to get the dress on straight.”

“I’ll manage,” Lucilline says.

The raya lands on my shoulder, her small hands planted on her hips. “I must say, you’re acting stranger than usual this morning.”

“Stranger than usual?” I meet Kila’s gaze in the mirror. “What does that mean?”

Despite the conversation, though, I’m barely paying attention, thinking instead of Ivrael…

How I fell to my knees and…

Oh, God. What is wrong with me?

My cheeks burn at the memory.

“Are you feeling well, miss?” Lucilline asks, her kind voice cutting through my spiraling thoughts. “You seem flushed.”

“I’m fine,” I manage, though my voice comes out higher than intended. “Just tired.”

“She’s been flushed since I got here this morning,” Kila announces, swinging her legs as she perches on the dressing table mirror. “And she wouldn’t tell me how the dancing lesson went last night, either.”

“It went…fine.”

“Fine. Everything today isfine.” The raya waves her tiny hands in the air expressively. “I don’t believe you.”

Lucilline adjusts the dress’s neckline. The new gown is Cinderella blue again—of course it is—with silver embroidery tracing delicate designs across the bodice that echo the frost patterns Ivrael’s touch left on the gallery walls.

Fuckinghell. Why can’t I quit thinking about him?

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